TAMPERE, FINLAND – Just weeks after leaving JYP in an amicable split, Risto Dufva has found himself a new job. Dufva will be the head coach for Tappara, Tampere. Tappara’s former head coach Sami Hirvonen will carry on with the team in the role of an assistant coach. Prior to the announcement being made, Dufva had asked for Raimo Summanen to join him as his assistant coach at Tappara. Summanen’s appointment would have been a real bombshell to the league. The successful, if controversial, coach has been unemployed since he left the post at Omsk in the KHL. During his stint at the helm of Omsk, wild rumours emerged that he had challenged the team’s’ star forward, Jaromir Jagr, into a fight after a disappointing play-off loss. However, Summanen has other commitments ongoing that prevented him from taking up the role. Summanen recently published a book titled Lätkä – kirja urheilusta (Hockey – a book about sport) Tappara’s season in SM-Liiga has been dismal so far and won only one game out of its five played. Additionally, Tappara has let in 25 goals in the five games and went nearly 180 minutes without scoring. Dufva’s role at Tappara will be to cover the remainder of the 2011-2012 season. It has been rumoured that Jukka Rautakorpi would take up the coaching job after this season. Dufva’s stint with Tappara will be his second time with the club. In 1996 Dufva acted as the part time goaltender coach for Tappara, his first hockey coaching job. “Tappara was one of my first employers in hockey and it feels like coming full circle. In 1996 I was a part time goaltending coach. Back then I had the likes of (Mika) Noronen and (Ilpo) Kauhanen. I drove down twice a week and I didn’t get paid for the role.” The old coaching duo of Sami Hirvonen and Marko Ojanen will carry on in coaching duties with the team. “Sami and Marko have done great work with Tappara in difficult circumstances dating back to last fall. It is only just that they get to carry on their work in Dufva’s coaching team,” Tappara’s GM Mikko Leinonen said. Tappara’s captain, Pekka Saravo said that the appointment of Dufva was a surprise. “It was a surprise. I guess it resonates from the fact that the players have not won enough games.” Saravo has played under Dufva’s coaching in the Finnish national team. Saravo played in three world championships between 2005 and 2007, during which Dufva was the assistant coach of the team. “I don’t know what Dufva is like as a head coach on a club level,” Saravo said. “But I do know that he is a professional, ambitious and demanding coach.” Dufva assumed his role as the head coach immediately and lead Tappara’s morning skate shortly after the press conference announced him as the coach. Contact the author: janne.virtanen@prohockeynews.com
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